Epithetically InCorrect
by A Silence in Winter
Summary: Toph accepts the gift of vision from a spirit, oblivious that she has become a pawn in a game played to settle an ancient score with the Avatar that dates back to Aang's first life, Sokka is merely an unfortunate victim.  Tokka, Kataang, Sukka post-series
1. Empathy

******Epithetically InCorrect**

_Chapter 1: Empathy  
_

The moment Toph slid the shoji door open she thought she might drop dead. Incense, candle smoke, and the aroma of lilies were heavy to the point of excess. She itched her nose and stepped inside the threshold, feeling numerous velvet flower petals under her feet. The room itself was noticeably warmer than the hallway, so warm Toph felt a little dizzy. And confused. It reminded her of the day spa Katara had dragged her tooth-and-nail to upon their first visit to Ba Sing Se.

However, these being the quarters Iroh had sanctioned for the boys, this particular room for Sokka, the atmosphere was more or less something she did not anticipate. Then again, it was Sokka.

"I've been waiting for you."

She had seen Sokka sitting in the corner of the room before she had entered. It was his words that caught her off guard. "…Waiting?"

"Yeah, I have. I just wanted to tell you that you're pretty special." He took a slow breath. "Where ever you go, there is a smile on your face, and mine. You make us all laugh and I know I can always count on you to make me feel better."

Toph could hear the subtle flutter of paper behind his voice, undoubtedly the one on which had written this little speech on. She was far too taken by what Sokka had to say to be concerned with how he was accomplishing it. She felt herself blush a little, even if the things he said weren't true and sounded a little silly.

"Your eyes are something I could get lost in, and your lips, silky and smooth, are a perfect fit against mine, chapped and manly…"

She silently wondered how he knew the way their lips fit together right before he answered her unspoken question.

"Suki, you are a jewel in my—Toph! What are you doing here?"

The thing inside of her that had been beating so loud and hard fell out of the hole in her chest and broke in two. A pregnant silence stretched between them as they simmered in mutual embarrassment.

Toph crossed her arms and kicked the floor, causing the petals near her to jump. "I came to tell you that dinner is ready. So move your feet."

"Wait, Toph!" Sokka grabbed her wrist before she could escape, pulling her into the center of the room. "You've got to tell me what you think of this!"

Toph took back her arm with more force than was necessary. "It's… nice." She itched her nose again. "Not really my style, though." _But it could have been_.

"And you've gotta feel this kimono!" Without regards to her space, he took her hand and shoved a bunch of his sleeve into her fist. It was soft, silky, and obviously expensive. "I know you can't see," Toph clenched her fists, "but the obi has Suki's favorite flower on it, the lily!"

"Great," she said through her teeth.

"And, oh! That's what the incense is. And I got her a bouquet, and the petals on the floor, they're all lilies, and we're going to watch the stars come—"

"Awesome, she'll be thrilled."

"Wait, Toph! Where are you going? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just really hungry."

He chased her as she walked out of the room. "I think you're still embarrassed, but don't be! I mean, it was an honest mistake, and—"

Toph punched the wood paneling of the hallway hard enough to make it splinter. "Look, Lily Lord, I don't really care. Iroh was nice enough to make dinner for us during rush hour and I just want to go eat."

"Geez, somebody is awful hangry!" He shrugged. "I just wanted your opinion, that's all."

Toph stormed off down the hall, the disgruntled knot in her chest suffocating her with more totality than any aroma ever could.

* * *

Toph crushed the pebble in her hand, opened her palm, and sucked the pieces back together into a complete and perfectly round whole, then repeated the process. The earthbender figured that if life's problems were as easily fixed as the pebble in her hand, then she wouldn't be blind, but beautiful, whatever that meant. Sokka wouldn't be ignorant, but perceptive, if that would be an improvement. She wouldn't be alone, but—

"Toph?" The girl in question closed her eyes and tried to think of all of the nice things she could say to Katara. None really came to mind. What Toph really wanted was to be alone so she could brood over her pebble.

"Hi, Katara," Toph said insipidly.

"Can I sit with you?" Katara asked.

_No_. "Sure."

Katara sat herself about half a foot away from Toph, more than a little disturbed by the earthbender's insidious rock crushing and reformation. "So," Katara began. "Um, is that the earthbender's version of a stress ball?" A meager attempt.

Toph fisted the pieces of the rock, turning the bits into dust. "What makes you think I'm stressed?"

"You just, suh, eem... out of sorts."

"I've got every last one of my sorts, thank you very much… hey, Katara, what do you think of lilies?"

"Why are you changing the subject?"

"Normally when someone asks you a question, you answer it. I think lilies are for losers. Now it's your turn."

"I like lilies."

Toph snorted. Katara sighed. "What's bothering you, Toph? You look stressed."

"Why does everyone have to talk about looking at things and seeing them? How can you look at me and say I _look_ stressed?" She flicked the pebble twenty feet away. A cat mewled in surprised pain. "You can't see my heartbeat, you can't hear my pulse, and you can't gage my breathing. So how can I look stressed? I don't get it!"

"Toph," Katara rested her hand on the Toph's shoulder and felt the earthbender tense. "I see differently than you, you're right, but this has never seemed to bother you before. I don't need to look for the things my eyes can see and your feet cannot to know that something is bothering you. You're moody, your voice is raised, and you're being destructive. That's something anyone can hear."

"Except a deaf person."

Katara sighed and let her hand fall. If Toph was determined to shoot her down, then fine. "Look, all I meant to do was come out here and see what was bothering you. I don't think it's that you're blind. What is it?"

"Look, Sugar Queen," Toph said as she stood abruptly, "have you ever been frustrated by something you couldn't do, no matter how hard you tried? Wait, firebenders killed your mom when you were little, right?"

Katara's heart skipped a beat, leaving a painful absence. Toph knew she had hit a soft spot, but Katara had been asking for this. Now she would render the waterbender to a bitter understanding.

"Yes," Katara said. "But I don't know what that has to do with your sight."

"I bet as she lay on the floor, writhing in pain from the burns you knelt at her side and told her to get up. And she didn't, did she?" Toph tilted her head, strands of hair falling around her useless eyes. "But you wanted it more than anything in the world."

Whispers of memories gnawed on the edges of Katara's composure, creating gaps. Faintly, she could see her mother's body on the floor. The smell of flesh cooked so long it was charred, crisp, and rancid. Her father yelling at Sokka to take her away so she wouldn't see—both of them too paralyzed to move. The ash that danced in the northern wind as her mother drifted to the place above the earth.

"You're wrong." Katara said.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, you're wrong. My mother wasn't in any pain when I got there."

"So you're saying she was smiling and all humpty-dumpy?"

"No," Katara took a deep breath, summoning the dregs of her courage to fight the vivid memories. "I'm saying she was already dead."

The chime of the tiny bells on a house pet's collar was the only noise to that intruded upon their silence.

"Oh," Toph finally said. No apology followed.

Katara softly shook her head back and forth. "I… do wish I could have brought her back. I still wish I could." She paused to breathe in the magnitude of that statement. The waterbender had not anticipated such a heavy talk this evening, at least not about her own afflictions. "Do you wish that you could see like the rest of us?"

Toph dropped her head back so her blank eyes pointed in the direction she knew as up, but everyone else called the sky. Right now they were probably sweetly nuzzling each other under the paling light of the stars and drinking forget-me-nots from the each other's warm lips, all of this tasting like the lilies that Suki's eyes so loved to devour. The thought was sweet enough to give anyone a toothache.

"Sometimes."

"Oh Toph," Katara put a hand on her shoulder again. This time she didn't tense up. "Your unique vision is part of who you are. Your life would be so different if you could see." _For the better or worse?_ "Would you be such a powerful earthbender if you could see?"

Toph brushed Katara's hand from her shoulder "Look, I know you're trying to help, but I wear the badge of a crippled child just as proudly as you do the whiny little cry baby that lost her mommy."

It was Katara's turn to become tense, but Toph felt her heart drop with said bitter understanding. "Toph, I'm not sure why you're so crabby tonight. I think it's because—"

"I'm not crabby, you're just a soft-skinned floozy! Do you realize how backhanded that compliment you gave me was?" Toph didn't give her a chance to answer. "I didn't think so. The least you can do would be to leave."

"Toph—"

"Come on, quit while you're way behind. I don't need your pity." I_'d rather wallow in my shame._ "Just go, Katara."

"Fine, Toph. You know if you ever want to talk—"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She waited until Katara disappeared inside of the teahouse. When Toph was certain Katara was gone, she sat down again and began pulling up grass shoots.

And then she began rubbing at the dirt. It turned into clawing, drawing, and scratching, the kind of exploration someone who wanted to scream silently might use as a medium. Toph knew no letters with which to write or she would have spoken the language entitled solely to those with vision. Bei Fongs' were surrounded by a rich collection of art, authors, and alphabets—none of which had a place in her life; all of which she barely grasped the meaning of their existence, if at all.

It was after she carved a disgruntled hole big enough to make her calloused palms bleed that the first one came.

There was lots of little pain, pain like thousands of pins and needles, all stabbing through her eyes to the place behind them. That wasn't all. There was more. This pain had a sort of substance she had never known. It wasn't like any spoken word, vivid taste, or memorable scent. Pain was the sensation nearest this one, but it was desperately lacking as her equilibrium all disappeared.

"Did you like it?"

* * *

**A/N: **_I would like to give a giant THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU to **kookoofozuzupuffs** for helping me with character development and my spazzy grammar. Hats off and a round of applause for my other beta, **writingshizo101**, for catching still more grammatical errors and helping me to understand blindness and all that accompanies it. __They're both wonderful friends and accomplished writers and this story would not be alive WITHOUT THEM! No kidding. You should seriously check out some of the incredible work they have done._**  
**


	2. Chasing Tails

**Epithetically InCorrect**

_Chapter 2: Chasing Tails  
_

The second it was gone she could see in her unique way again. The only strange thing about what she could feel was that there wasn't anything that strange to be found. Small bells drew Toph's attention to a tiny shape in constant motion.

"Who's there?"

"Normally when someone asks you a question, you answer it." The same voice said, soft and feminine.

Ignoring the address, Toph placed her hand to increase her range, to see if she had somehow missed a third person. Well, second now that Katara was gone. The closest humans were either inside the Jasmine Dragon or beyond the courtyard in the streets. Inside the walls she could feel the teahouse, shrubs and trees, and a couple of small animals, one of which was the one perpetually moving, and closer, at that.

"I'm waiting for my answer."

Toph spread her legs and raised her hands defensively. She didn't understand. If there were no other humans, then who was speaking? "I don't take orders. Who are you?"

"I don't take orders either. Don't be such a hypocrite."

"Then I guess we're—"

The first had been painfully exciting. Toph had no sensation with which to relate the second one. At the time, the extent of her adjectives pertained to describing the experience as the presence of something where there had previously been absence. The intensity of whatever was happening seemed to accumulate in the place behind her eyes as the wrenching sensation burned itself into her memory. Toph felt as though she might be sick to her stomach. She clenched her eyes tight and held her head in her hands.

"What are you doing to me?" Toph asked, failing to stave off every ounce of fear in her voice.

"I'm giving you exactly what you asked for." Dainty steps brought her company closer still.

A vein of anger and confused fear she would not show clutched Toph as she slapped the ground, sending a tremor in the direction of the approaching animal. Surprised yowls followed. "Get away from me."

"Toph!" A sudden urgency. "Don't you understand? You've been _waiting_ for this!"

"You're right, I've totally been waiting for you to immobilize me with freak abilities." The earthbender lifted a chunk of earth and hurled it at the closest figure.

One more time. The presence within the sensation was familiar this time but no less debilitating. Again, it cut past the superficial barriers of her physical self until it seemed to bite the intangible place of her soul with a carnal delight. The rock fell off course and tumbled harmlessly aside. Toph was on her knees, panting with exhaustion, frustration, and sheer pain. What was this?

She could feel a person who was light on his feet approach as the small animals skittered up the stone walls and away. Her bloodied fist collided with the ground, making a small dent next to her carved hole.

"Toph, what's wrong?" Twinkle Toes. Everybody just had to stick their noses where they didn't belong.

"Absolutely nothing. Why would you think anything was wrong?" Toph said complacently.

"You're, uh, on your hands and knees in the dirt."

"I'm an earthbender. We tend to do things that revolve around dirt." There was a shared stillness as they both assessed the situation, Aang trying to guess what had happened and Toph trying to cover it up.

The airbender's eyes traveled from Toph to the hole she had made to the piece of landscaping she had rived from the ground, apparently for no other reason than to hurl it across the garden. A piece of Aang felt empathetic for Iroh's karesansui sand garden, the pattern disturbed by a sizable chunk of the lawn. He looked back at Toph, who was rubbing her bloody palms in the ground.

"Oh no!" He gracefully bounced to where Toph was sitting and grabbed her wrists, turning them over to see the fresh wounds. "We need to get Katara!"

Toph moaned. "Seriously? I'm fine. It's just a… scratch."

"It's more than a scratch and it could get worse if you don't do something! Come on, I insist."  
"Twinkle Toes, I don't really want to see your girlfriend." Katara had already done enough damage for one night. Toph didn't feel the need to have the waterbender berate her for a silly decision when Toph already knew it hadn't been smart to hurt herself on purpose.

"Then I'll get her to see you!"

"Wait—"

"KATARA!"

Toph groaned as she propped her chin against the back of her throbbing hand.

* * *

_Why do you have to be so difficult? What's wrong with you? You're so stubborn. Stop it. You act all grown up but then you pull something like this._

Toph rolled over in bed, wide awake and still feeling the awful temper of the day. Katara may have closed the wounds on her hands but she had bled Toph in the same place she'd been bitten by the creepy sensations. It didn't help that Sokka's words were still fresh in her mind. She could remember the sound of his heart as its irregular beat echoed their mistakes.

Closing her eyes, Toph folded her hands together. After soldering Toph's skin back together, Katara had bathed the earthbender's hands in wood oil and then wrapped them in cloth bandages that ended in tight knots. Katara claimed the wood oil was a salve to help Toph heal and the bandages were there for good measure. They certainly were there for good measure, but not the one Katara had implied. Toph knew that the bandages were meant to prevent her from opening another vein, so to speak. As for the wood oil? Toph found it offensive that Katara would think she would believe wood oil, typically used for arthritis, was an appropriate choice for cuts. She knew it by its pungent scent and the lingering tingle of hot-and-cold. Katara wanted her to think it was worse than it was so she wouldn't do it again. This was all a ruse. And a very bad day.

With a heavy sigh that said more than words ever could, Toph wrapped her fingers around the bracelet she had fashioned of the space rock Sokka had given her. In her mind, it was as good as any lily anyone could ever find. Better, in fact. It would never die. Then again, it was never alive to begin with.

With a moan, Toph pulled the covers over her head. If she could see, then maybe she would be defined by something other than her capability in a fight. The various compliments Sokka had given her over their many months of battle drifted to the top of her consciousness. He was so excited that they found a teacher for Aang, so glad that they added her strength to the group, so happy that she invented metalbending, so thankless when she saved his life, opting to tend to Suki instead. How much more would she be worth if she could see them all?

Soft footfalls slipped into her room followed by the familiar note of bells. They reminded her of Aang's dancey feet but the steps were too small and close together to be his. The tiny animal had returned.

"You didn't get enough out there?" Toph said.

"Did you?"

"Of _what?_"

Her company giggled. "You know, what happened out there."

Toph glowered. "You keep asking me if I enjoyed 'it,' but 'it' is rather loosely defined. How am I supposed to answer you? And how do I know you won't attack me again? Oh, and while you're at it, you might want to explain why it's possible to talk to an animal. This isn't normal and I'm not amused by your little games."

"Oh, Toph, I never attacked you. But I did grant your little wish."

The sarcastic retort that had been sitting on the tip of Toph's tongue vanished. "My... wish?"

A delighted purr rumbled from the animal. "I thought you wanted to see, my dear. That was merely a glimmer of what it will be like, but I wanted to know if you liked it."

Toph felt the cadence of her own heart skip a beat. "Wh-What?" She remembered the burning behind her eyes, the feeling of her stomach turning upside down, the pain that lingered even after it was gone. "That can't be. Vision is supposed to be a good thing." _Right?_ Everyone else relied heavily on it and based so many of their perceptions on things Toph had trouble comprehending, like color.

A smile could be heard in her companion's voice. "Of course it is! You simply aren't accustomed to seeing as everyone else does, that's all. You'll adjust quickly, I'm sure."

"Adjust? You mean you'll actually let me see?"

The animal brushed her cheek against the side of Toph's hand, another purr emanating from its lithe body. "Why yes," the animal Toph assumed to be a cat said, "of course!"

An opportunity this good was bound to be a double-edged sword. It had to be. Toph was no stranger to perfect ideals that turned into nightmares. Her parents were rich and noble, but their blind child didn't exist but to a small circle of people. She could travel the world, save it even, but the Avatar was hailed virtually alone. Someone read her a love note, only to find that it was intended for another. Toph couldn't imagine this situation to be dissimilar. She would gain vision and, as the cat said, "adjust," but to what end? What would be penance for this? Nothing was free.

"What's in it for you?" Toph asked.

The cat gave a long sigh accompanied by an equally long stretch, then said, "You see, I am a spirit and we cannot operate the way you humans do."

"A spirit?" She shifted to get up, to get Aang.

"Tch!" The cat leaped into Toph's lap to discourage her. "Let me finish!"

"I don't—"

"Hush! Do you want to use those pretty eyes of yours or not?"

Suspicious, but still curious, Toph settled. The cat started again. "I need to, ah, correct a mistake that is thousands of years old. Make amends, if you will. But to take a piece of this world with me, I must leave a piece of mine behind. You're an earthebender, neh? You know how important balance is, my dear. In accepting my generosity, the piece of my world that will live within you becomes a bridge that will enable me to return with a part of the physical world."

Toph narrowed her eyes, suspicion rising. "Why can't you just be like that Won Shi Ton guy and bring stuff here without using humans as a... bridge?"

"Hmm, well, you see... Spirits not as, ah, practiced as he cannot do these things so easily."

"So in other words you're going to use me to make up for your own short comings. Huh, I don't like it."

The cat bristled. "Toph, I'm only trying to help. This is a win-win situation! I get what I need, and you can finally see! Imagine all of the things you have missed because of your defect."

Toph didn't appreciate the word defect in relation to herself, but the point of the matter was principal. How many pieces of art and literature had her parents fawned over only to exclude their lovely daughter from such pleasures? Who was to say star showers and sunsets were meaningless? What about Sokka's affections for Suki? If she stayed this way, lilies would never mean a thing to her.

"What piece are you going to take from this world if my vision is coming from yours?" Toph wasn't completely sure she trusted a talking cat, of all things, but she remembered the incidents in the garden. Was that what it was to see? She couldn't understand how anyone actually used sight to their advantage. Or were these merely symptoms of a life lived without vision?

"The piece I will remove is a part of you that doesn't even really belong to you at all. You might miss it for a short time, but it won't be long before you won't even know it's gone! Besides, the gift I will give you is more than enough to compensate."

"I don't know..."

The cat placed her paws on Toph's chest and nuzzled under the girl's chin. She was tempted to push the cat off. "You're going to change, as is inevitable of all things." The cat's voice was warm and maternal. Toph didn't trust it. "Not many of the crippled and degenerate have the opportunity to rectify their disability as you do, my dear. With lovely eyes that can truly see, imagine the things you can and will accomplish!"

Toph closed her eyes. She remembered how awful Sokka's room smelled and the subtle details that were privy to a working pair of eyes. The memory of Appa's lost posters surfaced within her flushing her cheeks. Katara, her compliment that she was beautiful. Even the good memories were distorted by her disability.

"What if I miss the piece of me that you take more than you think I will?" Toph asked.

"Remember," the cat said, "It doesn't even belong to you, but your eyes will.

Toph closed her eyes and imagined a place that was more perfect than this one, where everything was in its rightful place. Her parents accepted her earthbending, crushes weren't one-sided, and she could see like any other kid.

* * *

_Earlier that night…_

The black tom sat staring at the white appendages for which he was named.

"Toes!" The cat jerked his head up to look at his counterpart, her white fur glowing illustriously in the moonlight.

"Y-Yes, Kiki?"

"Well...?" she asked, her ears fluttering with impatience.

"Sorry," Toes bowed his head. "I wasn't listening."

Kiki sighed with exasperation. "As per usual. Toes, did you or did you not make certain she was with the Avatar?"

"Uh," The most vivid memory Toes had was the overwhelming scent of flowers and incense that had prevented him from coming too close to the room. He'd seen Toph walk two doors down the hall to the Avatar's room. Or was it three she had walked? He couldn't quite remember. "Yes."

"Perfect." Kiki said as she sat up straighter, the bells around her neck cheering her success. "I can't believe this is so easy!"

"Maybe it's too easy." He mumbled.

Her almond-shaped yellow eyes captured Toes. "You're doubting me?"

"Well," Not really but sort of a lot. "No, I just, um, I'm wondering why she's our target and not the waterbender."

Kiki's eyes defined Toes as the epitome of idiocy. "Because, what do we have to offer her? She is beautiful, accomplished, and has the love of the Avatar. What can our meager magic supply her?"

Toes shook his head back and forth. "I don't know, I just don't think this is right." He recalled the voice he heard in the second, perhaps third, room. It sounded as though it belonged to someone who was physically more mature than the Avatar's current incarnate. But Kiki's wrath was something he feared and to admit failure to complete an objective would be out of the question.

"I just feel like attraction is sort of something undefined. To chance something so important on a child who is only twelve—what if we're wrong? How do you know she has eyes for the Avatar? What if we get the wrong one?"

"They're the same age. She calls him Twinkle Toes. Pet names are affectionate. She punishes him for mistakes. They earthbend together all the time. She yearns for him! Do you remember how upset she was to find the Avatar was not reading her a love note? Toes, a girl knows these things."

"Kiki, I—YOUCH!" A stone promptly stung Toes on the bottom.

"See?" Kiki said. "The universe is punishing you. Now hush up and trust me."

* * *

A/N: Okay everyone, so I must announce that my beta, **kookooforzuzupuffs** IS WHERE IT'S AT! She has been such a tremendous help to me and I cannot even begin to describe all that she has helped me with from character development to my grammar. She is super amazing and I LOVE HER DEARLY! You should all go and check out her awesome ZukoxOC story, **Sinking and Burning**. :) Also, a big, fat, giant, THANK YOU to all of you who reviewed last time. They make me smile. No, seriously, they do.


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